THE
FOLLOWING
nasty specimen vilifying David Irving was posted
on the Nizkor
Website by
Ken McVay on February 15, 1994:-

"HIS first
book, The
Destruction of Dresden(London: W. Kimber, 1963), caused a sensation by its
accusation that the Anglo-American raids on Dresden in
February 1945 constituted a major war atrocity. Irving's
book, which exaggerated threefold the number of deaths that
actually occurred and made unfounded charges about Allied
actions, has since been refuted. Two of his later books,
Accident: The Death of General Sikorski (London: W.
Kimber, 1967), and The Destruction of Convoy PQ 17
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1969), prompted legal action.
Irving lost both cases and had to pay damages and costs of
about £45,000 in the libel suit on Convoy PQ
17.[1]
Irving
first entered the headlines in 1970. In July of that year,
he was forced to apologize in the High Court of London for
"making a wholly untrue and highly damaging statement about
a woman writer." -- not an auspicious start for someone who
claims to be in pursuit of the truth. Later that year,
Irving was back in the headlines, concerning publication of
his book, The Destruction of Convoy PQ17. Ostensibly
an expose of an ill-fated 1942 Arctic convoy headed for the
Soviet Union during World War II, it eventually resulted in
Irving being fined 40,000 British pounds for libel. Irving's
book faulted Captain John Broome, commander of the convoy at
the time, saying he was guilty of "downright disobedience"
and "downright desertion of the
convoy."[2] Broome brought suit against
Irving for false statements, and won a judgment in August of
1970. Irving's lawyers appealed, and lost in March, 1971.
The case is revealing because of what it says about Irving's
abilities as a historian and his motives as an author.

According to The Times of London, Irving showed a
copy of the manuscript to Broome before publication. Broome
objected to the accuracy of some thirty passages in the
book, and threatened to sue for libel if Irving did not make
changes.[3] At that point, William
Kimbers Ltd., Irving's publisher, notified him that they
would not publish the book as it was then written. Later,
Irving published the book with another
publisher.[4]

The court found that Irving "was warned from most
responsible quarters that his book contained libels on
Captain Broome... To make [the book] a success he
was ready to risk libel actions... Documentary evidence ...
showed that [Irving] had deliberately set out to
attack Captain Broome and in spite of the most explicit
warnings persisted in his attack because it would help sell
the book." The court labeled Irving's conduct as "outrageous
and shocking."

Irving's misrepresentations did not end with the publication
of his book. According to [David]
Cesarani[4], in 1979, a German publisher
had to pay compensation to the father of Anne Frank after
printing the German edition of Irving's book, Hitler's
War. Irving had claimed that Anne Frank's diary was a
forgery.[5]

In light of publicity about David Irving, who wrote a book
in which he claims the Holocaust did not happen, it should
be pointed out that he makes a living writing books which
cast doubt on historical events. In 1970, his book, The
Destruction of Convoy PQ17, caused an uproar,
particularly in naval circles, and resulted in a court
action against Irving for libel. The action was taken by
Capt. John Broome, senior officer in charge of the naval
escort.

In July 1942, 36 merchant ships set sail from the United
Kingdom for Murmansk with supplies for the besieged
Russians. In the Barents Sea, it [the convoy] came
under heavy attack by German aircraft and U- boats. The
British admiralty, acting on intelligence reports (later
proved false) that the battleship Tirpitz had put to sea,
gave an order for the convoy to scatter while the naval
escorts searched for the battleship. Captain Broome
complained that in Irving's book, the blame for the convoy's
destruction was put on him, the inference being that the
navy had abandoned the merchant ships.

The judge found in Capt. Broome's favor. But by then, his
reputation had been damaged by the questionable 'facts'
written about the incident.

Return
to Index:

Notes on
some of the lies:

David
Irving was never sued for libel over his book
Accident.

There
are no such quotations or statements made in the book
The
Destruction of Convoy PQ.17.

Following
his standard practice, David Irving provided the entire
manuscript to Captain J E Broome before
publication for review; Broome withdrew his original
agreement to provide comments and corrections, and chose
to initiate proceedings instead.

Dr
David Cesarani is director of the Jewish information
and propaganda library, The Wiener Library,
London.

David Irving was never
sued for libel over his
allegation that
parts of the Anne Frank Diary were suspect, or in
any other connection over the diary (it turned out that
parts of the Diary had been written in ballpoint pen, in
another hand).